Day 5: Heart-Building Habits

But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. (Matthew 6:6, NLT) “Our spirits, like our bodies, have requirements for health and growth. Some people don’t want to pay the price of developing good spiritual habits.” (Page 46) Today marks the fifth day of our consecration. Just to remind us, the word Consecrate means: To set apart for God’s use. Thus, these are twenty-one days out of three hundred and sixty five that we’ve set apart for the sole purpose of God using these days to do things that He desires to accomplish in our lives. It’s been said that if one does something twenty-one days in a row, it will become a habit. The one thing I want us to keep in mind, from the beginning to the conclusion of this time in our lives that we are setting apart for God, is this: What good (God) habit will I leave March with? What good habit is God asking us to continue as part of our lifestyle once this consecration is completed? What bad habit is God asking us to leave behind and not carry into the month of April? If we are not intentional about this consecration, by the second week in April we could find ourselves asking the question: Now what was all that consecration stuff...
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Day 4: The Hurt Locker

The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate. 7 Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, “Quick! Get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists. 8 Then the angel told him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Now put on your coat and follow me,” the angel ordered. 9 So Peter left the cell, following the angel. But all the time he thought it was a vision. He didn’t realize it was actually happening. 10 They passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron gate leading to the city, and this opened for them all by itself. So they passed through…(Acts 12:6-10, NLT Bible) Chapter 3 of the Book Too Busy Not To Pray is entitled God is Able. In it, Bill Hybels shares this particular story of the miraculous freeing of Peter from Herod’s prison. What intrigued me were the three important instructions that the Angel gave him: (1) Get up (that is, wake up)! (2) Get dressed (apparently he was not dressed)! (3) Follow me! It was okay for Peter to be asleep and undressed while locked up in prison, but he needed to be alert and dressed for the place where the angel was going to lead him. And they came to a point where Peter was unchained and free to move, but he was still in prison. Peter did not receive his complete freedom until the Iron Gate was opened by the Spirit of God. This allowed him to walk to his destination, which was the church. God is able to open the iron doors that have “locked” us out of our destinations and therefore have “hurt” God’s desire to fulfill His purpose for our lives. Like Peter, we are free, but in prison. The freedom may look like a great career, wonderful friends and family, and good health. However, what is hurting and hindering us from walking into places God has for us could be the iron gates of fear, bitterness, resentment, low-self esteem, or even pride. If we are going to leave the locked places that hurt our opportunities to do great...
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Day 3: God Is Willing

Too Busy Not To Pray Chapter 2: God is Willing Then the Master said, “Do you hear what that judge, corrupt as he is, is saying? So what makes you think God won’t step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won’t he stick up for them? I assure you, he will. He will not drag his feet…” (Luke 18:6, Message Bible) Yesterday, I received a call from a person whom I had prayed for regarding a new apartment. They were thrilled that God answered the prayer beyond what they could have even imagined. Brand new apartment. Furniture. Heat. Air Conditioning. Cable TV. Walking distance to their church. And, all well under $1,000 per month. It was amazing! As I ponder my conversation on yesterday and this chapter today, I wonder if my amazement has become God’s disappointment. I wonder if God is disappointed that I am so shocked that he would bless in such an incredible manner. I wonder if God would have been more pleased, if I’d have simply responded, “Well of course God did more than He was requested to do! He’s our father and not a reluctant judge.” The next time you make a request in prayer, remember that you are praying to a God who is willing to answer. He’s your...
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Fresh Bread: God’s March in Orders for Our Consecration

On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD… 18 …keep away from the devoted things.19 sacred to the LORD…” 20 When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. 21 They devoted the city to the LORD… (Joshua 6:15-18, 20-21, NIV) Many of us are familiar with the battle to take the City of Jericho. Jericho was the first city the holy (separated/different) people of Israel encountered after they had crossed the Jordan River in order to enter into the place God had promised them. Where they entered was more than simply a place, for God was transforming them from slaves to landowners and from being nomads to becoming a nation. However, if this transformation was going to occur, they would have to fight for it, and do so God’s way. Just as God brought them into the land by allowing them to cross the Jordan River unconventionally (Joshua 3:15-17), their first battle was also going to be fought unconventionally (read above). Joshua was already an accomplished warrior, yet, if he was going to fight battles for the promises that the Lord had given him, Joshua would first have to receive his “march in” orders. The word march means “to advance in step in an organized body; to proceed; to go forward.” The etymology of this word means “to mark, pace out (a boundary).” Thus, when a soldier is marching, his objective is to: · Advance, not by himself, but within an organized body. · Proceed and move forward, not backward. · Mark out a boundary for the territory his armed forces plan to take over (1 Chronicles 4:10) The 21 Day Daniel Fast Consecration for Pentecostal Tabernacle begins on March 10th. It is during this month of March that I believe God, through His Holy Spirit (John 16:13), will provide us individually and as a Church with His...
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Bad Romance – part 2

Bad Romance – part 2 from Pentecostal Tabernacle on Vimeo.
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